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Chlamydia infection is the nation's most common bacterial STD, as the number of new cases per year is estimated to be at least 4.3 million. The causative organism, Chlamydia trachomatis, is a non-motile, gram-negative bacterium. This organism is the most common cause of what was previously diagnosed as nonspecific vaginitis in women and nongonococcal urethritis in men. The infection is always transmitted by intimate sexual contact. Women usually acquire infection during intercourse with the infected man. Homosexual males can also transmit infection through oral-anal contact or anal penetration. The infection dose not cross the placenta, but the passage through birth canal of an infected mother can cause the conjunctivitis and pneumonia in newborn.
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